CircRNAs Biogenesis,Functions, and Its Research Progress in Aquaculture

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry - CircRNAs is a novel type of endogenous RNA molecule that is produced from pre-mRNA without 5′cap and a tail of 3′polyA. It characterized by the...     

Morphological and transcriptomic analysis of attenuated and virulent strains of Phytophthora infestans

International Microbiology - Phytophthora infestans is a hemibiotroph Oomycete that primarily infects tomato. In this study, the growth status and pathogenicity of attenuated and virulent strains...     

The structure of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus Gc is revealed; many more still need an answer

Highlights
1. The structure of glycoprotein Gc, responsible for mediating membrane fusion between cell and CCHFV, is revealed, but many more mysteries remain.
2. Why do only antibodies against Gc have neutralizing effect, but not the one against Gn?
3. Why can NAbs against Gc only be protective in the animals in preventive settings, but not in the therapeutic administration?     

Structures of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein alert noteworthy sites for the potential approaching variants

Highlights
1 Deletion of residues 156–157 warps the neighboring beta-sheet and leads NTD and RBD to shift.
2 T859N stabilizes the packing of the 630 loop motif to make RBD standing transition more difficult.
3 The overall structures of the closed state S complex from different variants resemble each other.
4 Mutations in FPPR may affect the overall structure of the trimeric spike protein.     

Altering microtubule stability affects microtubule clearance and nuclear extrusion during erythropoiesis

Mammalian erythrocytes are highly specialized cells that have adapted to lose their nuclei and cellular components during maturation to ensure oxygen delivery. Nuclear extrusion, the most critical event during erythropoiesis, represents an extreme case of asymmetric partitioning that requires a dramatic reorganization of the cytoskeleton. However, the precise role of the microtubule cytoskeleton in the enucleation process remains controversial. In this study, we show that microtubule reorganization is critical for microtubule clearance and nuclear extrusion during erythropoiesis. Using a rodent anemia model, we found that microtubules were present in erythroblasts and reticulocytes but were undetectable in erythrocytes. Further analysis demonstrated that microtubules became disordered in reticulocytes and revealed that microtubule stabilization was critical for tubulin degradation. Disruption of microtubule dynamics using the microtubule-stabilizing agent paclitaxel or the microtubule-destabilizing agent nocodazole did not affect the efficiency of erythroblast enucleation. However, paclitaxel treatment resulted in the retention of tubulin in mature erythrocytes, and nocodazole treatment led to a defect in pyrenocyte morphology. Taken together, our data reveals a critical role for microtubules in erythrocyte development. Our findings also implicate the disruption of microtubule dynamics in the pathogenesis of anemia-associated diseases, providing new insight into the pathogenesis of the microtubule-targeted agent-associated anemia frequently observed during cancer chemotherapy.     

Promoter methylation as biomarkers for diagnosis of melanoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Melanoma is one of the most common skin cancer that is characterized by rapid growth, early metastasis, high malignant, and mortality. Accumulating evidence demonstrated that promoter methylation of tumor-suppressor genes is implicated in the pathogenesis of melanoma. In the current study, we performed a meta-analysis to identify promising methylation biomarkers in the diagnosis of melanoma. We carried out a systematic literature search using Pubmed, Embase, and ISI web knowledge database and found that gene promoter methylation of 50 genes was reported to be associated with the risk of melanoma. Meta-analysis revealed that hypermethylation of claudin 11 (CLDN11; odds ratio [OR], 16.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.97–143.29; p = 0.010), O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT; OR, 5.59; 95% CI, 2.51–12.47; p < 0.0001), cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (p16; OR, 6.57; 95% CI, 2.19–19.75; p = 0.0008), retinoic acid receptor β (RAR-β2; OR, 24.31; 95% CI, 4.58–129.01; p = 0.0002), and Ras association domain family member (RASSF1A; OR, 9.35; 95% CI, 4.73–18.45; p < 0.00001) was significantly higher in melanoma patients compared with controls. CLDN11 (OR, 14.52; 95% CI, 1.84–114.55; p = 0.01), MGMT (OR, 8.08; 95% CI, 1.84–35.46; p = 0.006), p16 (OR, 9.44; 95% CI, 2.68–33.29; p = 0.0005), and RASSF1A (OR, 7.72; 95% CI, 1.05–56.50; p = 0.04) hypermethylation was significantly increased in primary melanoma compared with controls. Methylation frequency of CLDN11 (OR, 25.56; 95% CI, 2.32–281.66; p = 0.008), MGMT (OR, 4.64; 95% CI, 1.98–10.90; p = 0.0004), p16 (OR, 4.31; 95% CI, 1.33–13.96; p = 0.01), and RASSF1A (OR, 10.10; 95% CI, 2.87–35.54; p = 0.0003) was significantly higher in metastasis melanoma compared with controls. These findings indicated that CLDN11, MGMT, p16, RAR-β2, and RASSF1A hypermethylation is a risk factor and a potential biomarker for melanoma. CLDN11, MGMT, p16, and RASSF1A promoter methylation may take part in the development of melanoma and become useful biomarkers in the early diagnosis of the disease.